Biscuits and Gravy

Whoever first decided to get a fresh-from-the-oven biscuit and smother it in gravy was a genius. Biscuits and gravy are my favorite breakfast food. Sadly, this is another one of those simple-to-make foods that have descended into Instant Purgatory. Biscuits out of the can or freezer, gravy out of a package...few people seem to make them fresh anymore. I really have no idea why. It's not that I'm against instant foods, but homemade biscuits and gravy are so simple and fast to make. Try it! With practice, you can whip it up from scratch in 30 minutes or less. The taste is also worlds better than anything you'll find on the grocery shelf. This recipe makes about 8-12 biscuits, depending on how big you make them.

Biscuit ingredients:

2 c. flour
2 tsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of baking soda (about 1/4-1/3 teaspoon)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. solid fats: lard, shortening, butter, or any combination of the three. Shortening and lard result in light and flaky biscuits, whereas butter gives a very soft crumb and a buttery flavor. Be warned about butter, though...feel free use it in addition to shortening or lard, but I wouldn't recommend using only butter. If you go all-butter, you tend to lose that light flakiness that is a biscuit trademark. My personal preference is butter-flavored shortening. Buttery flavor, but with the lightness of shortening.
1 c. buttermilk. If you don't have buttermilk (and I basically never do), you can use milk or half-and-half with 2 tablespoons of vinegar added. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to sour, and it's good to go.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. Add your fats, then rub it into the mixture with your fingers. You can use a pastry cutter, but I think rubbing it in does a more thorough job. You've done it right when it looks like coarse meal.

Next is the buttermilk. Don't just dump the entire amount in! The use of liquids in breadmaking isn't an exact science. The amount of liquid you need can vary based on humidity, the condition of your flour, the position of the rings of Saturn, or any other obscure factor. All you need to do is get the dry ingredients moist enough to come together in a smooth dough; too much liquid will make it sticky and a mess to work with. Start by adding half of the buttermilk, and stir. If you need more liquid, add a few more tablespoons and stir again. Keep going until you get the right consistency. Sometimes you may need to add more than 1 cup of liquid. If so, that's just fine. It's not the amount that matters, it's the consistency of the dough.

When your dough is right, turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Making biscuits requires a light hand in kneading. You want to knead it just barely enough for the ingredients to come together. You'll know when it does; you'll feel the dough suddenly become elastic in your hands. It takes very few kneads, maybe as few as 3-4.

Next, you want the dough at about 1/2-inch thickness. You can either pat it out with your hands or use a rolling pin. Cut rounds out of the dough with a biscuit cutter. Don't have a biscuit cutter? I find the small cans of tomato sauce, with the top and bottom cut out, work great. When you cut out all the biscuits you can, gather the scraps, pat them back together and cut out more until the dough is gone. The later batches may not be as light, since they were worked more, but oh well. Life's not fair.

Arrange the biscuits on a greased baking sheet. You want the sides touching. Put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned. While those are going, you can work on the gravy.

Gravy ingredients:
3 c. milk or half and half.
4-6 strips of bacon, or several links of sausage. Sausage gravy is more traditional, but I prefer the flavor of bacon.
4 tsp. flour.
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Cook your bacon or sausage in a good-sized skillet in the usual manner (until fully done), then remove it from the pan. I start mine cooking while I make the biscuits. If you want to mix the bacon or sausage into the gravy, you can cut it into small bits before cooking. Or, you can just serve it as a side dish. What you really want for the gravy is the fat.

You should have a nice bit of bacon or sausage drippings in the pan by now. Don't worry if there are little bits of bacon or sausage still left in the pan; that adds flavor. Turn your heat down to medium low. Add your flour to the drippings and mix with a whisk or a fork. All you're doing is making a roux. When the mixture is very lightly browned, it's ready. It shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes.

Add your milk and stir briskly until it's well-combined and turn the heat up to medium. All you need to do now is heat the milk to a steady simmer. Be sure to stir frequently, if not constantly, to prevent sticking. The gravy should thicken nicely. If you want to add bacon or sausage bits to the gravy, now's the time to throw them back in. Season with salt and pepper. Traditionally, the gravy is pretty heavily peppered. It tastes wonderful.

Serve everything when it's nice and hot.